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Biography

John was raised in a little town by the Chesapeake Bay, fell in love with the power of songwriting in folk, rock, blues, and jazz, and moved to New York to add his songs to its ever-expanding repertoire of great music. In the past year he has written and recorded a full-length demo, collaborated with other local artists in the studio, and played the majority of the local circuit, including venues such as the Knitting Factory, Tonic, Lucky Cat, Trash Bar, Sidewalk Cafe, and any number of bars and cafes. Distribution of the LP has been consistent both at shows and online at iTunes, and the creation of an acoustic ensemble is in the works. Songs for the next recording project have been written and the search is on for reps and agents who want to get involved.

The important thing in this music is the writing. These are songs that were written to make you think, and the point is to discover something new every time. Happy listening.

Other Info

Band Website

Lyrics

Simon and Ophelia

I’ve thought of it twiceIts been seven nightsMy heart is a hole and as cold as ice

You said it beforeI’ll find nothing moreThan what I have here if you’ll let me come home

The fog will ariseI’ll come back tonightAnd all will be well when I look in your eyes__________________________________________

Simon she says I can’t be your friendHow can you ask me so close to the end?

It was you that leftYou said it was bestAll of your dreams and the world and the rest

You left me aloneHad places to goMy love is as small and hard as stone

The time for this pastSend me a messageTell me you’re leaving and make it your last__________________________________________

And its hard its hard when you don’t know what to sayIts hard its hard with the distance in your wayAnd its hard when you think you might not make it throughAnd its hard you can only do what you must do___________________________________________

Your bitter heartTore us apartIt wasn’t me leaving it wasn’t my fault

I know what I saidThe night that I leftSome things a man must do fore he’s dead

Ode To Autumn Leaves

I need to break out of this moldThe night is young I must take holdIf my luck runs out I’ll be nothing when I’m old

I’ve seen the worst pull thruIf they can, so can you

Baltimore remains my homePhiladelphia breaks my soulI’ve been strung across that wireJust like you

New Orleans was wasted lowNew York City is where I goJust to break this state of mindFrom kind of blue

I’ve seen this city shining and toilingThrough the ages and the smokeBurning my thoughts of you like memory, The future past is causing me to choke

Goodbye your lovers ran awayBest of luck getting new onesTo take their place

The sun is setting mostly doneThe night has conquered finally wonThe autumn leaves are falling like they do in song

The seasons change and so do IYour days are numbered so are mineI’ll make it one day I’ll be on fireBefore I die

The strange thing you ought to know about living isYou’re caught between the cages and the showThe future man, it holds your cards andIt’s never gonna let, never let ‘em go

Doubt is ever one to blameBut true love it can’t be saidThat you’re the same

Words And Worlds

Written By: John Chambers

The world began with a spoken wordBorn of a spark of light that God unfurledSo words are all that make us knownYour words like light that cut me to be shown

I can abide by the raging stormI cut the ties that bind to sail the seaI travelled canyons of water deepAnd all for the love of dreams I’ll never see

The sea has its mysteryAnd so do I and so do you and you have me

In each casual conversationLies a clear abbreviation of the soulBut just in case you read it wrongI never claimed to have complete control

I was chained inside the strangest doubtThe sounds don’t pierce the quiet in your eyesSoul from souls are ripped apart andThe silence did it but no one realized

Simple faith is a gift of God But only put in words both pure and trueSimple faith in a lie is deathIf the lies you're living by you don't see thru

You said believe me all I say is trueBut that’s the only thing you said you would commit to_______________________________________

I held your gaze just for a minute babeHard to believe you didn’t feelYea but ain’t that just the way it goesLittle that you think in life is real_______________________________________

There's a darkening ship in Bermuda squareAnd a soldier on the gallows thereWho thought he heard the call to marchBut he turned around alone

The waters took me all aroundI breathed my last and hit the groundI cried the night I took that flightYour words did bring me home

Hatred belies a measure of loveLove is just hate you can’t get enough ofFaith is just fear to bring you throughTrust to control the things you do

Promises sink like a boat in the seaPeople just think what they want to believeHonesty sells for the highest bidForgiveness never forgets what you did

Words are a cluster of hazy dreamsNothing you say is ever what it seems

You said believe me all I say is trueBut that’s the only thing you said

Rumors of Wars

Written By: John Chambers

Rumors Of Wars

Cold wet steel but his hands don’t feelHe gazes at the fieldLieutenant John Mill his blood frozen still Has taken the hill

“My brother” he cries“Why take their side?”Now its you who must dieAnd the deed must be mine

Two birds in the sky scatter and cryThe rain overhead falls turning redAnd it beats on his headAnd the bullet takes his own life instead

Ah cruel world cause a man to dieTo enslave, set free, save the remnants of hisprideIts in our hands, but wisdom comes lateIf you light a fire, you deal with the flame

In a trench filled with mudHe lies in water and bloodIn a hole now abandoned

Seargent Ben MyersDemands to know why Here he should dieThe enemy close in How did it begin, he prays“Forgive me my sins”Tries to dig in

But there stands the manDeath in his handSurely the endAnd they meet eye to eyeSees the wound in his sideSees no hope and he Passes right by

Ah cruel minds make the world so insaneDespite fires, quakes, sicknessAnd flood from the rainYou have to ask, when will we learnFor all we have, our ideas are just words

What should our grandfathers sayIf the wars that they waged don’t matter todayAnd God alone knows what it takes for us to changeAges to ages we wager the sameBut now we can travel the world in a dayWe all talk the same, we think the same way

It must be some answer we lost in the dirtGod, I’m not even sure what its worth

One day your childWill demand to know whyYou lived or they diedWhat do you tell them

Bakari Shoma’s justLying in the dustHis home laid to wasteAnd the anger’s in his face

They came through the treesLike a Hutu diseaseSo he reaches for his gun, cause they killed everyoneAnd they took hold his wife, its hard to surviveCause there’s no food anywhereAnd the damn rest of the world just doesn’t care

Ah cruel world cause a man to killTo enslave, set free, or just establish his willIts in our hands but wisdom comes lateYou light a fire, you deal with the flame…

What will our grandchildren sayIf all that we did was just filled with hateAnd oh God what it takes us to changeAges to ages we wager the sameBut now we can travel the world in a daySo many die of disease anyway

It must be some answer we lost in the dirtGod knows I’m not really sure what its worth

Love Merits The Lover Little

Written By: John Chambers

Love Merits The Lover Little

We’ve come back from our exploits running, stealing thru the nightYou never thought about it but I knew it wasn’t rightYou stole my heart and broke my will with your single glanceSince God ordained the world I swear I never had a chanceBring my memory back to me before I dream awayOf love and lies and sins and things that happen every dayLove merits the lover little and the loved not at allIts true…

The stars can shine so brightly in their purple cherry nightAnd crash into the dust without a sound its quite a sightI’m out here in the swirling dust and valleys that I roamI’ve landed somewhere strange a hundred miles from my homeYou said you would say yes, for all eternityWhat you said and what you did, doesn’t matter much to meCause nothing that is said can really matter in the endThe only thing that matters is your soul and where its beenAlisa is an angel sent down from the stars aboveI’d drive her round the world and back to give her all my loveAnd shout back from the ocean waves to the starts gathering dewI’d give it up, the world, the hate, my pride if all for youStill somewhere something coils and snares in the basement of my mindAll love is cold, all red is bold, and my heart is far from blindLove merits the lover but little baby and the lover not all Like this, one shot left to miss, goes to pieces, believe me in this, yea yea yea

The trees can flower oh so fair on cherry blossom lane, they sayIts quite a thrill when death comes round if you can stand the painBy my heart is only more open now I know it sounds absurdAn open misconstruction of an incandescent wordThe universe has spit me out like a needle in the hayYou used me for your aching pride, but I wanted it that wayJust to think that it all began on an uneventful morn,The paradox to life is that we’re never fully born, alwaysBound up with convenience, never giving right a chanceLike always in the mood for love but never for romanceAlways right outside my window, beauty oh so graveNever what I want but somehow always what I crave, Never Speak in absolutes, always absolutely rightNow we’re cheating once again into that dark and sacred nightLover merits the lover but little baby and the lover not at allAnd that’s fine, cause most of the time,Her sugar coated body, your sawdust plated mind,Like aged but cheap wine, is far from my mind, yea yea yea

A girl can smile oh so sweet while giving you the eyeAnd speaking from the corners of her mouth she’ll feed you liesNo one wants to hear the truth, man, honesty is painThe best that you can do is stand aside the driving rainI gave an angel my heart, but my soul’s not mine to giveGod I wish it was, cause surely life would be easier to liveIf I was lying in the gutter dying one last song to singI’d sing of you like I knew I would it’s a haunted frightening thingBut I’m turning my attention now for a backbone and a vowTo face the world not to look away you’ll never take me downI sing my song to the raging moon and the angry vicious seaTo the velvet dark pine forest night that swallows you and meI remember the way you burrowed into my heart that burning 3rd of MayWe wanted the same thing baby we just got there different waysThere isn’t a lot that you can do in life, there’s never much to showYou can never say you’ve learned all that much, but there is one thing I knowLove merits the lover but little baby and the lover not at allBut I’ll get by, with the sun still far behind,And the miles yet to rise, rub sleep from my eyesDon’t ask me why, I’ll fail but I’ll always try, yea yea yea

Endless Rhyme

Written By: John Chambers

Endless Rhyme

Through endless roads of black and coalI met a maid who said she stoleAnd offered me the chance to knowThe secret behind her dancing

Though lancing out with steep and shearA feather red she held so dearTo ease the pain and remove the fearOf those she dreaded fiercely

I knew right then I should see through her guise and stay awayBut its kinda hard when your hearts doing all the thinking anyway

I nearly aimed to hit amissWhen yonder came her blue mistressWho blind took aim and ripped her dressBefore the whole ensemble

Then mumble did I 'fore I ranAcross the ruined blood-white sandTo gain my place and make my standHere near this isle I mated

I was stuck in the middle of a hopeless case, I can’t decideClose your eyes don’t think twice go along for this ride

She stated dear you're much to whiteYou hold your knuckles much too tightWhy don't you stay with me tonightIt was then I left her

A loner on a muddy shoreWho thought he might find love or moreNow finds that what he holds in storeAre scorpions on the pillow

Don’t look for reason in my words, there’s only rhymeWhich tells the truth always, in all ways, and all the time

A lazy willow pushed by breezeAn honest man without his kneesAnd now the blue-belled bonnet, geezWhat is truly holy?

There are the facts its what I knowYou can take it now or let it goThere is only one thing left for sureLove in metaphor are endless

Don’t look for reason in my words, there’s only rhymeWhich tells the truth always, in all ways, and all the timeWhich tells the truth always, in all ways, and all the timeWhich tells the truth always, in all ways, and all the time

Audrey's Song

Written By: John Chambers

Audrey’s Song

You close your eyesTo spite the timesYou knew you had at least what you deservedFor all the colors in your mind

Is justice blindYou can hope this time She’ll take a glance beyond the scales to seeWhat made your lovers change their minds

Augustine BeamAnd Charles BrightThey both surround the darkness castAground under the town hall light

But would you careIf they had knownThey cast their lives before the endInto the warmth and darkness of your own

The churches ring the sirens sing a tuneThe way you go is up to you

Audrey, you gave meA little too much, a little too much, too much…

The melodyIt can’t belong To words that don’t have meaningThat have being just so you can sing a song

And in the wayYou can’t abideWith words fit to to disguise the lifeWhich up till now you carried deep inside

Oh Audrey BabeThe past is wrongWhat you gonna do to ease the painOf past mistakes that go so long?

In spite of these you know they’ll take you homeHeld in bed is when you’re most alone

Save meIs all you thinkMy babyIs gone you think

Its just a little too much, too much, too much…

Through the surging seas of doubt and fear You goLooking for the answer no one knows

And its stillYou’d think there’d be some changeBut it never willThe sun is still the sameThe price you can’t repayBut what do we deserveFor living anyway?I did everything I couldMaybe not what I shouldBut darling just todayWhats the living anyway?

The Ancient Miner

Written By: John Chambers

The Ancient Miner

The ancient miner sat upon a stone one distant dayCaught in time and halfway blind he whispered in his headIts over now I don’t know howI let all of my chances slip away

Gather round ye daughters and a story I will tellThe hardest song was ever sung and one I should know wellA tale that love is sad but strongA tale that teaches much so listen well

I was just a boy of eighteen years in the summer heatWild with ambition when my true love I did meetAnna’s smile was fleeting as the summer dayAnd just ten times as sweet

Cold the days there’s hell to payFor the memory of her body lying that way

For six long years I hid my love from Anna’s wistful eyesWatched as others sought her love behind my vain disguiseBut fate brought us together asMy wounded conscience battled with her pride

Down beside the river hidden underneath the treeShe said never before nor again she had a love like meWhat my mind would not believe as yetMy heart was all too eager to conceive

It was cold that day there’s hell to payWhen your mind is crying leave and your body stay

Just a year I was bound to leave to dig the mines out westI took her love and promises and buried in my chestThe night I left she was cold and weak andWhispered please forgive me all the rest

Her heat struck letters waned in time and muttered on my wallThe April rains and August sands the sad and languid fallA hard old road to run is loveInside it time and dreams both slow to crawl

The fall brings colder days theres hell to payTime heats your desire and steals the way

I came back from the black hills just December by two daysThe platform edge was empty as my sense of loss was raisedDont take long to all go wrongBlink just twice your soul has been replaced

She met me with a smile torn like iron from a viceHer kiss was quick to break and all her words repeated twiceIn thirteen months it just took onceHer perseverance had melted with the ice

The coldest day theres hell to payWhen you trick yourself no matter what you say

Her confused charms were up in arms the months were two or threeShe went away with her lover as her nature had foreseenFor deep inside her womb and mindA seed was sown that never knew of me

For all attempts to reach her I was all but left to waitAnd learned myself there’s but a thread dividing love and hateThe seasons turned, then poured and churnedTo feel again I’d loved my first too late

Cold grow the days there’s hell to payWhen you cannot feel but you tell yourself you may

Seven wonders, seven sins, seven oceans poundSeven sisters vaulted in the heavens shining downSeven years had come and goneAnd seven more would chase the seasons round

Then in spring she reappeared a wraith within my doorWith hollow eyes and shuttered lips and movements slow and soreFor twenty days she slept awayAnd fool as I could not have wanted more

Its a cold hard day theres hell to payWhen its all you do to hold yourself at bay

Words did not hold meaning and so none were ever spokeThe ties that bound were there but all their meaning long had brokeWe took to bed, as newly wedBut the worst of all we still had to beholdThe lights went out, someone cried, the rain was pouring hardHer lover came with flashing steel and tore across the yardNo cry or shout, a shot rang outShe fell without a sound into my arms

As her last breath swelled inside her chestShe whispered please forgive me all the rest

Its cold today there’s hell to payFor the memory of her body lying there that way

A Traveller

Written By: John Chambers

A Traveller

Faith was a traveller put to the sword of abuseBorn of true light from light blessed but cursed to be usedShe was scorned thru the empire, outlawed, but she wasn’t aloneIn 400 years she was wed to the throne

She was sent to the childlike the poor at heart and oppressedFrom town to town the least the poor in red and white she dressedBut the shadow of death causing doubt soon to be crept aboutTo darken a clear and a radiant jewel

For kings traveled miles just to listen and to lay by her sidePut her sign on their shields and in battle her name would crySo the means she became soon found the most bitter aimAt the hands of those seeking great power and fame

So Faith put her arms with due fear into the hands of the stateIn her name wars were waged, blood was shed, and the reason was hateAnd the many that she vied for, though she tried for, were laid out to die forThe forgiveness of sins that’ll cost you your life

Time marches on thru the trees and the world’s growing oldFor 2000 years in all ways now her story’s been toldBeen told with disgust, been told with lies and deceitTo the last and the searching she had yet to meet

But she lives in the crowded stone huts on the side of the roadAnd her palaces empty now but for the few left who knowAnd she lives in the near and the far sometimes high mostly lowAnd in all who are mocked for the truth that they hold

The world’s always bitter and better than those with the truthSo the truth’s always spit on and strung out and so is the churchBright eyes, dark skin, hair that floats don’t mean a thing to me nowBut few can be better, tell me can you?

Grace is a messenger sent back to right all these wrongsTo bring faith to the faithless who are helpless to do it on their ownSometimes I wonder why its taken so longAnd what it means to find faith at all

Discography

"Philomusical Fragments" - available on iTunes and Amazon MP3

Set List

The typical set is 45 - 60 minutes of original acoustic ballads, both fast and slow, mixed in with just a couple creative covers from any number of genres. Song selection depends largely on the venue and whether a piano is handy.

Typical Original Set:Simon and OpheliaOde To Autumn LeavesThe Only Way To FightJust Like Its AlrightWords and WorldsRumors of WarsSong About JerusalemLove Merits the Lover LittleA TravellerEndless RhymeLightbulbsThe NightWorked OutTheophanyLove In MetaphorGreen EyesAudrey's SongOld MistakesTraded LoveThe Fourth of JulyThe Ancient Miner